Repaying a Measure of Devotion

It was once said that warfighters who died in combat gave, “the last full measure of devotion,” but what for the men and women whose devotion has left them living scarred and maimed. With the help of Wake Forest and the University of Pittsburg the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) is helping find a way to repay this debt. They have already had some success with regrowing lost muscle and may soon even be able to spray or print new skin on burn victims.
Cpl. Hernandez (pictured right) was 19 when he lost 70% of his muscle in his right thigh, an injury so severe that doctors recommended amputation. Researchers with AFIRM using a pig bladder to derive the needed proteins and growth factor thought they could help Cpl. Hernandez. After an intense period of physical therapy to strengthen the remaining 30% of his muscle, Doctors inserted the pig bladder derived extracellular matrix. This matrix coaxed the needed stem cells and other cell precursors into the area of the wound. Cpl. Hernandez then did something amazing, he started to regrow skeletal muscle and today he has recovered almost all the muscle strength in his right leg.
Another promising area of research with AFIRM involves the field of burn treatment. With nearly 10% of combat injuries involving burns, the development of treatment to make skin grafts obsolete is badly needed. Today when someone is burned they need replacement skin and they need it badly; so as soon as they are stable Doctors start taking skin from other non-burned parts of the patient and replacing the destroyed skin. This process is severely painful and the surgeries can stress an already vulnerable patient’s body too far. With funding from AFIRM researchers are developing a “bio printer” (pictured below) that would print new skin directly onto the patient’s burn. This printer would work on the same principle as an inkjet printer that we all have in our offices and homes. A scanner would first map the size and depth of the burn, then a cartridge containing the correct type of skin cells and the needed supporting material would be inserted into the printer and the skin would be printed directly onto the patient. Scientist are even hoping to be able to match skin pigments and promote hair growth as well.
These future treatments could give hope to tens of thousands of wounded combat veterans that they will once again have the life they did before they were wounded. This research does not only benefit civilians by repaying those men and women who give so much of themselves for our protection, but these treatments will also benefit injured people everywhere. With such waste going on everywhere in Washington the AFIRM project is an example of taxpayer dollars being put to good use, and repaying a measure of devotion.
For more information: http://www.afirmwakepitt.org/home.htm